But is the food healthy?AT ANNE Arundel...

AT ANNE Arundel Medical Center's groundbreaking ceremony in Parole on Wednesday morning, a public relations executive looked quizzically at a man who popped into the tent midway and looked around.

"I'm a cardiologist," he quickly explained, scanning the large tables laden with food.

"Am I allowed to eat?"

AT THE same hospital ceremony, emcee Rick Wade of the American Hospital Association introduced Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson by commenting on how he seems to appear everywhere in the city.

"Someone said once that if two hobos opened a can of beans in a parking lot," Wade said, "the mayor might be there to congratulate them."

Cheryl Tan

Mother of parking space

THE GIGANTIC parking lot of the new Weis Market in Glen Burnie has the usual reserved parking spaces for handicapped drivers, but it has something extra: reserved close-to-the-door spots for "maternity parking." Nice idea. Do expectant fathers sent to the supermarket in the middle of the night to pick up pickles, ice cream or other craved foods get to park in those spots?

Rosemary Armao

The root of tree plantings

NEVER GET between a man and his trees.

More than a decade ago, the State Highway Administration tore out 10 acres of trees along Route 100 in Pasadena to make space for equipment as they extended the highway. Every day since, as Del. John R. Leopold drove by the bare patch on his way to work, he swore he would get those trees back, even if he had to jump every bureaucratic fence in the state.

He wrote letters. He called people. He wrote more letters. And finally, a year and a half ago, highway administration workers got out their shovels and planted 300 trees.

Recently, though, as Leopold made his usual morning drive, admiring the burgeoning shrubs, something seemed amiss. The center trees just aren't flourishing. They are sagging and short and hunched over in the middle.

He got back on the phone. He wrote letters. He wrote more letters. He told State Highway Administration officials that a solution had to be found.

Last week, they agreed. They promised to replant 3 acres this spring.

Leopold does not apologize for his persistence.

"In the great scheme of things, this isn't as important as solving traffic problems or other problems," he said, "but sometimes it's the little things we ought to attend to."

Laura Sullivan

A Charlie Brown tree

AND SPEAKING of trees, though the lots are still full of lush, beautiful Christmas trees, that's apparently not good enough for some tree shoppers.

On a recent trip to a Severna Park nursery, WGRX-FM account executive Jamie Pratt stopped to search for what she envisions as the perfect tree.

"I really do want that tree that has the branches missing with a huge hole right in the middle," she said. "I want the one that's going to be left on the lot on Christmas Day."

Why?

" 'Cause I'm the only one who'll love it," she said.

After perusing a selection of 3-foot-tall pines, she decided there wasn't one ugly enough for her. She handed a clerk her business card.

"Keep your eye out for a broken tree, a misguided waft," she told him.